Horizon brings printed text to the digital age
Centuries have passed since the invention of the printing press, but its effects on civilisation remain evident in the digital age. Printed materials, such as books, spur widespread circulation of information and ideas that help revolutionise the modern world.
Centuries have passed since the invention of the printing press, but its effects on civilisation remain evident in the digital age. Printed materials, such as books, spur widespread circulation of information and ideas that help revolutionise the modern world.
Horizon International is an important component in the information chain as it manufactures innovative post-press equipment to meet the needs of print service providers.
When Hachiro Hori established Horizon in 1946, it initially manufactured tabletop binding machines and sold these through trading companies. Moving from an original equipment manufacturer business model to a direct sales approach, Horizon has expanded its product portfolio to serve broader market requirements.
Celebrating its 68th anniversary this year, Horizon offers intelligent automated machines for paper finishing operations such as folding, collating, binding, stitching and cutting.
As the proliferation of digital publications threatens the printing industry, and in turn the company's future growth, Horizon attends global exhibitions to learn how to adapt to new trends and deliver relevant solutions.
The company also established a subsidiary in Germany, the home of the first movable type printing press, to stay in tune with cutting-edge technologies.
"Gutenberg was a big inventor because he made innovative changes for information transfer," says Horizon's president Eijiro Hori. "We are facing a similar environment change because of the internet. It is changing our industry and if we don't do anything, our company's growth will be affected."
Horizon sees great growth opportunities in integrating its post-finishing technologies into digital printers. The company provides an internet book retailer with bookbinding machines, enabling it to print and bind books on demand. Horizon provided the ideal solution for high-mix and low-volume production. By working with Horizon and employing the on-demand model, the internet book retailer saves on storage costs.
Outside Japan, mature markets such as the United States and Europe are important regions for Horizon. The Asian region, particularly China, is another promising area for Horizon to achieve its goal of becoming the No 1 company providing post-finishing solutions.
Horizon relies on the support of distributors in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong to grow its market share in China. As one of the world's production capitals, China will immensely benefit from Horizon's intelligent automated machines as they offer greater efficiency and labour cost savings.
"Asia is a little bit behind on digital printing," Eijiro Hori says. "They are still using offset printing machines. We want to offer our solutions for both offset and digital printing to advance the industry."
www.horizon.co.jp
